All Chapters of FALLING FOR MY BROTHER'S RIVAL: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Sophia’s PovI spent the morning before the championship finals doing something I hadn’t allowed myself the luxury of doing in weeks, sitting quietly in the nursery Noah and I had slowly begun assembling in the spare bedroom of his apartment, surrounded by half-finished furniture and paint swatches we still hadn’t fully decided between, trying desperately to hold onto some fragment of normalcy despite Victor’s disappearance hanging over everything like a blade waiting to fall.The crib sat mostly assembled against the far wall, soft gray with delicate white detailing, and I ran my fingers along its smooth edge, imagining the moment we would finally place our child inside it, imagining quiet nights and early mornings, imagining an entire future that felt simultaneously so close and impossibly distant given everything still threatening to unravel it before it even began.I wanted this baby to grow up surrounded by safety, by laughter, by the kind of steady, unwavering love that Mason ha

Noah’s PovThe message reached me on the bench during a stoppage in play, Ethan leaning over the boards with an expression that immediately told me something had gone seriously wrong, and the moment he relayed Renee’s warning that Victor was somewhere inside the arena, every ounce of focus I had maintained throughout the game evaporated instantly.“I need to get to Sophia,” I said, already moving toward the tunnel despite Coach Reynolds’ confused protest behind me.Mason caught my arm before I could fully break away, his expression carrying the same fierce urgency now consuming me entirely. “I’m coming with you.”We abandoned the bench together, ignoring the stunned murmurs rippling through the crowd as both team captains disappeared from the ice mid-period, security personnel rushing to meet us the moment we reached the private tunnel leading toward the family suites.Renee met us halfway, her expression tense as she relayed updates through her earpiece even while walking briskly bes

Sophia’s PovI watched the color drain from Noah’s face as Victor’s voice continued through the phone, and by the time he finally lowered it, ending the call with hands that trembled slightly against the device, I already knew whatever he’d heard had shattered something fundamental in the fragile peace we’d managed to build over the past several weeks.“Noah, what did he say?”He hesitated, and that hesitation alone sent ice spreading through my veins far faster than any words could have managed. “He mentioned your mother. Your adoptive mother. He said her death wasn’t as accidental as everyone always believed.”The vehicle suddenly felt impossibly small, the air thin and difficult to breathe as memories I had spent years carefully compartmentalizing surged unwillingly to the surface. My mother had died when I was nineteen, a car accident on a rain-slicked highway late one evening, the kind of tragedy that felt senseless and cruel yet entirely explainable, nothing more sinister than t

Sophia’s PovPanic and disbelief collided the moment I spoke those words aloud, my hand pressed instinctively against my stomach as another sharp contraction rolled through me, stronger than anything I had ever imagined possible, stealing the breath from my lungs entirely.“Okay,” Noah said, though his voice carried far less calm than his chosen words suggested, already reaching for the hospital bag we had packed weeks earlier in anticipation of exactly this moment. “Okay, we’re going. Right now.”Mason moved instantly into action, grabbing his car keys while simultaneously calling ahead to Dr. Harper’s office, his usual composed authority resurfacing despite the obvious concern etched across his features. “I’ll drive. Noah, stay with her.”The drive to the hospital passed in a disorienting blur of contractions and reassurances, Noah’s hand gripping mine tightly while Mason navigated through late-night traffic with a focused urgency that reminded me exactly why he had always been the

Sophia’s PovFor a moment, I simply stared at the ring glinting softly beneath the dim hospital lighting, at Noah’s hopeful, slightly nervous expression, at Tyler sleeping peacefully in the bassinet beside us, and every fear, every danger, every impossible obstacle we had survived together over the past several months seemed to collapse entirely into this single, perfect moment.“Yes,” I whispered, tears spilling freely down my cheeks. “Yes, absolutely yes.”Noah’s face broke into the widest smile I had ever seen from him, relief and pure joy flooding his features as he gently slid the ring onto my finger, his hands trembling slightly with emotion he made no effort to hide.“I love you,” he murmured, leaning forward to press a soft, lingering kiss against my lips. “I’ve loved you since that ridiculous snowstorm trapped us together, though I was far too stubborn to admit it at the time.”“I love you too,” I replied, laughing softly through my tears. “Even when you were being impossibly